“Vosensky Karagod”: how the autumn fair of educational institutions was held in Vitebsk

Saturday morning at the Palace of Sports in Vitebsk was met with aromas of kebabs, smoking pilaf and fresh pastries. The traditional exhibition and sale "Vosenski Karagod" again gathered thousands of citizens. People come here not just to see, but to buy seriously: colleges and schools of the Vitebsk region offer their crops and products directly, without intermediaries’ markups. Cheaper than in the store and in the market - and with a soul. The sb.by correspondent walked from vegetable rows to sweet shop windows to find out what they offer and for what.

Potato Mathematics: from 50 kopecks to the ruble, the Fair opened the gates at eight in the morning, and by nine at the Sports Palace there is no apple to fall. Someone is in a hurry for a bag of potatoes, someone for apple seedlings, and someone just goes to the aroma of kebabs and hot pancakes. The choice is huge: from vegetables and honey to exotic herbs and gingerbread. And all without intermediaries.

Prices speak for themselves:

Potatoes - from 50 kopecks. to 1 rub. / kg

Beets, carrots, onions, garlic, cabbage - from 80 kopecks. to 1 rub. / kg

Apples - from 50 kopecks. to 2 rubles / kg

Grapes - berries 10-15 rubles / kg, seedlings 20 rubles.

Cranberries are 7 rubles. /l

Honey - May 13 rubles, buckwheat 18 rubles, cream-honey and with propolis 20 rubles (0.5 l)

Sea buckthorn - raw 6 rubles., jelly 12 rubles. (0.5 l)

Carp live - 8.50 rubles / kg

Grain (wheat, oats, rye, barley) - 40-55 kopecks / kg

Potatoes are the main hit of the fair, and the prices here are pleasantly surprising. Rzhavskaya secondary school (Beshenkovichsky district) offers the Manifesto variety for only 50 cents per kilogram! For other participants, prices are kept in the region of 90 kopecks - 1 ruble, but everything depends on the variety.

The counter of the Orsha State Agrarian College is bursting with abundance: everything here is from its subsidiary farm. Potatoes, cereals (oats and wheat), juicy apples, currant and raspberry seedlings, as well as onions, garlic, carrots, beets, peppers and fresh chicken eggs.

A student, Alexander Kolokhanov, is busy with bags of potatoes. Today, the future excavator driver helps customers load heavy nets.

- This is our Mastak variety, the guy proudly says, raising the next grid. We grow, we dig, we eat ourselves. It's delicious!

- Profitable, shares the buyer. The first time we take this variety – we will try. Last year, we bought 10 Kolomba grids at once, but we did not like it very much: it was large, but with black dots. So this year we decided not to take risks and take two nets of different varieties. Experimenting. Here we take the Mastak, and now we go look for others.

The ruble bar is held by two institutions at once: Polotsk State College of Economics sells Skarb potatoes, and Lev Dovator Ul State College offers its Uladar.

Ulsh College is represented at the fair on a grand scale. Representatives of the educational institution brought a rich assortment of grain crops: wheat, barley, rye, oats, millet, rapeseed and vico-oat mixture. Nearby briskly bought up fresh potatoes, onions, garlic, cabbage, carrots, fragrant apples, as well as zucchini and pumpkins.

Among those who helped citizens to decide on the choice is third-year student Artem Butor. The guy is determined to link his future with the agricultural sector, so working at the fair and presenting the farm successes of the college for him is a conscious and important practice. For those looking to the future, gardening rows work. Grape seedlings offer 20 rubles, and fresh berries of table varieties can be bought right now for 10-15 rubles.

However, there was also a lover of exotica. From the package of Olga Stegniy looked tall grassy plants.

- Why do you need two feet tall? – I wonder.

- For beauty! I forgot the name, but they're decorative, very spectacular. I came here specifically for these weeds. It's fun to walk around this fair, always fun. You can watch everything, listen to music and eat. One pleasure!

For Vitebsk woman Irina, this "Vosensky Karagod" became a personal discovery, at the exhibition and sale it was for the first time:

The scale of the organization is simply amazing, and the range is a real marvel. I am a gardener, so I did not miss the opportunity to explore this range. I am leaving with a dream come true: I finally found the tubers of dahlias that I have long wanted to buy. And I also got pennisetum foxtailed. I will be experimenting with it for the first time. Volunteers BRSM: the invisible heroes of the day During the bypass of the fair ranks it is impossible not to notice young guys in clothes with symbols of BRSM. These are volunteers who help with the delivery of products. This is part of the republican youth volunteer marathon “Dobro.Bel” and its initiative “Good Fair” – a large-scale social project of BRSM and the “Good Heart” movement.

“Volunteers help people bring their purchases to cars or nearby houses,” says Nikolai Drozdovich, First Secretary of the Vitebsk District Committee of the BRSM. Some people already know about this action: they come, ask for help. And when we offer ourselves, it happens that first there is distrust - they are afraid of fraudsters. But when they see the BRSM emblem, they calm down and accept help with joy.

A resident of Vitebsk Zinaida Denisova, who bought many seedlings of fruit trees (apples, pears, plums, cherries), was pleasantly surprised:

- I didn't even know about this action. The guys came running, offered to help bring to the car. It's good that there are people like that. Thank you so much to all the guys who took the time this weekend to come and help people like me.

- I bought raspberries - ordinary, not repairable, to plant in the country, - says the woman. I have everything there: blueberries, currants, walnuts, nine apple trees. Big cottage, everything needs updating. It is very nice that the girls-volunteers help the elderly person. It's expensive.

- I believe that it is the duty of young people to help the older generation, he said. - People are happy, thank you. We are glad to hear the kind words in response.

"You can find everything here!" Entire families come to the fair - and not only from Vitebsk. The Zarubo family from the agro-town of Kopti, Vitebsk district, came specially to cover all economic needs in one fell swoop.

His wife shows off shopping and picks up the conversation:

- Carp for 8.50 rubles, where in the store will you take? Nowhere! And the quality is excellent. Plus bought flowers - chrysanthemums multiflora, apple seedling. For sweets came, for baking... I mean, all at once. Saving time and money. And the atmosphere is festive - walk, enjoy!

But not only the harvest is famous for the fair. Colleges and schools brought handicrafts: wooden spoons - from short to long, with cunning carvings - from the ruble to five. At the same symbolic prices, you can find other gifts here: sewing products, leather, wood.

A few hours in the midst of autumn abundance (and in an hour everything can not be bypassed) - and the appetite wakes up noble. There is something to enjoy the stomach here.

Chefs of colleges and schools of Vitebsk region staged a real feast on an open fire. Here in a huge casket languishes pilaf on firewood, barbecues hiss on the barbecue. There they fry danks and bake pancakes, and ruddy buns with cinnamon, hazel and raisins are given only for a ruble - and even for the action "three plus one for free.".

- There is music around, a huge variety of products. It was very interesting to see what products our colleges made. I was especially impressed by handmade wicker products – a real aesthetic. We bought an excellent pear seedling, fresh honey and seedlings of flowers. The fair itself is a wonderful and soulful idea.

Cabbage on the ruble, cranberries - 5 rubles per liter: we looked at what they sell at autumn fairs in Brest

alimova@sb.by